=(2) Co-education=

At the hearing of the immorality charges in the Court at Lower Hutt the
prosecuting officer attributed the delinquency, in part, to the
association of boys and girls in co-educational schools. This directed
the attention of the Committee to the effect on morality of the
propinquity of the sexes in schools.

There seemed to be no disagreement on the question of educating boys and
girls of primary-school age together. The desirability of co-education
at the post-primary school level, however, was frequently disputed. Many
opinions were heard, for and against.

The Committee was not concerned with the relative values of the
different types of school, except in so far as they had an effect on
juvenile delinquency.

Statements were made that co-educational schools did, in fact, increase
the chances of immorality, but although the Committee investigated these
charges it could not find that acts of immorality among pupils did in
fact arise from their association at school.

There was evidence that one girl had incited seven boys to sexual
misbehaviour on the way home from a co-educational school. Thorough
investigation proved to the Committee that the group came from the same
neighbourhood and had become known to one another from their home and
street association. Acts of indecency had occurred long before they went
to the post-primary school.

Senior pupils of an intermediate school were concerned in depravity,